Ok lets talk about passing sub/amp wires under the carpet. From the previous posts I gote a bit confused someone mentioned about removing front seats to pass the wires under the carpet to the boot :?:

I need as much info us possible on how to pass wires to the boot. :roll:

Yeah remove the front seats from the car give you so much more room to work with and makes the job super easy.

Witht he fron't seats removed, your moved the rear seat (the bottom part), it just have two clips you need to pull and out it comes.

With everything out (notice how spacious the cabin is?) its just a matter of pulling up the carpet at some parts and running the cable through. It run my cables under the centre console above the transmission tunnel all the way to the boot. Very simple really.

can you tell me very clearly how to remove front seat, and is it absolutely necessary.

Its not nessecary but will make like a billion times easier. Its very very simple.

Just grab a large adjustable spanner. First pull of the covers on the side rail at all 4 corners under the seat, they just undo the bolts and its a simple matter or lifting the seat up and pulling it out of the car. Very basic.

Installtion is the reverse.

nooooo!!! not adjustable spannner!!!! Aaaaargghhh!!!

joking!!

haha - i am a socket man from way back - so i have all the sockets need - i used the wrench - easier and less chance of rounding off the bolts.

it is only four bolts holding th efront seat in - they are at the front and back of the tranch that allows your chair to move forward and backward!

Manual

Manual

When I ran my cables through to the boot, I didn't bother removing the front seats as I just run the cables down the cable channels on either side of the car. Was a bit fiddly to get in there, but nothing overly hard.

Either way really.

I'm going to remove front seat it's dead easy.
Running wire throught the freeking firewall hard :cry:

Got a coathanger you dont need?

No need to remove the front seats..this is what I did

Remove the back seats, pull the carpet up and make the coathanger into a small hook...put the wire in the hook and pull it through!

Presto...we wired up my car like that in about 5 mins....it was so easy.

The HARD bit is getting the wires thru that *(@$ing door grommet!!!!!!!!

No hard is trying to get a wire up the window pilar through the dash for your ultrasonic's. THATS hard.

up the a pillar??

gee i thought that was a piece of piss!! i have my tweeters / ultrasonics mounted on the A pillar as well - piece of cake to put there!

manual

Argh!!

You guys are butchering your Stereo installs!!!

Run your wires along the Wiring ducts up the sides of you cars!! Thats what they are there for!

Ill post some pics when i get home tonight DE as to how to do this!

In about 1.5hours!

Yes thats fine for 16 gauge cable, but when you need to run speaker cable, 4 gauge power cable, two rca cables, remote cable and alarm cable the wiring channel is chocka's. I tried to do it but there was simply no way all this wiring was going to fit... dead simple pshysics.

i use the tunnels still - but the only wiring i have added to it is the electric arial!!

Manual

I don't see how it's butchering

It's not bodgey!

It works, it's neat, you can't see them, where's the butchery?

Yes thats fine for 16 gauge cable, but when you need to run speaker cable, 4 gauge power cable, two rca cables, remote cable and alarm cable the wiring channel is chocka's. I tried to do it but there was simply no way all this wiring was going to fit... dead simple pshysics.

hmm.. im not sure why but you should beable to fit that down both sides of your ducting.

I have a 4 guage power cable, cd stacker power and cable, 4 speakers, 2 rca's down the ducts of my car aswell. I used both sides of the car.. Speaker wires down one side and power down the other side.

Also these is enough room there not to run it in the ducts themselves but down beside it.

Maybe the wiring is a little different between the models of the cars?

I don't see how it's butchering

It's not bodgey!

It works, it's neat, you can't see them, where's the butchery?

If you happen to continually tread on these wires, sit on them and so forth they will eventually wear (like the floor mats in your car).

Plus the fact you might get white noise/interference from the speaker and power cables if they are running parrelell to each other instead of running them down opposite sides of the car.

The ducts are put there for a purpose.. They should be used!

hmmm, could be smaller ducts in the TE's - i know the TH has heap of room - but then again i havent tried running 4 gauge power wiring down it!!

Manual

I don't understand what's a big deal taking front seat out is 5min job

Well I dont tread on the wires...
And the wires are off to the side so they dont get sat on.

I dont get interference,

Oh and regardless of ducts or in the middle...they'll be running parallel...they're just further apart...so I'm assuming that you mean that you might get interference from them being closer...

Anyways, do what works for you. I've gone down the middle and it's fine, it's not a "butchered" job.

hey killbilly - the interference he is talking about is the alternator noise that you can get if you run your power cables to close to the speaker cables / RCA's

only normally and issue with high power stereos or shit wiring!! (i mean shit quality wire not a shit wiring job)

so yeah - as for running them under the carpet?? i dont sit on the carpet and as far as standing on them - if you run them alongside the cable tunnerl - then you dont generally have your feet that close to the side either - however i can see the point you are coming from!!

Cheers - you got it figured yet de or what??

Manual

I used some conduit to protect my wires, seperate lengths for the power and signal (opposite sides of the car), worked fine, didnt need to force any 4ga through anything, just ran it under the carpet where it wouldnt get steped on. Pays to get the better quality wire, shielded cables and thick insulation are the way to go, for the extra $10-15 you might as well do it properly.

As for the seats take them out, it makes it heaps easier, you'll need a 14mm socket. Watch out for the plastic trims! Partially put all 4 bolts in b4 you tighten them up, it makes it a lot easier than trying to put the last bolt in when the seat is twisted and the holes dont line up.

You shouldn't be running all the cables down one side of the car anyway; if you split them in 2 it is fine to run it alongside the factory wiring channels. I have 4AWG wire, high level speaker wires, plus about 10 misc. 12 gauge wires for other things in the car all down one side, then all the RCAs down the other side and there is still heaps of room.

I couldnt be stuffed paying heaps of money for an amp kit so i just bought an extension cord from the salvage and ran it under my carpet :D

It was perfect because it already had three wires for the power, earth and remote :)

Not sure how safe it is using an extension cord but so far its been good.

I couldnt be stuffed paying heaps of money for an amp kit so i just bought an extension cord from the salvage and ran it under my carpet :D

It was perfect because it already had three wires for the power, earth and remote :)

Not sure how safe it is using an extension cord but so far its been good.
Given I know very little about car audio, that sounds like one hell of a good idea. Might actually be a really dumb idea but, logic would probably dictate that an extension cord can handle 240V and is insulated, plus the most important thing is a 5m extension cord retails for about $3.95!!!! Value!! :thumbsup:

it probably does work - just that the cable cant take high amounts of current.

Power cables are rated to 10A, some heavy duty ones are rated at 20A

Power cables are rated to 10A, some heavy duty ones are rated at 20A
Yes. But any decent car audio amp will be running in excess of 25-30AMPS. :shock:

Not very safe in my opinion!! :doubt:

Ah ha, asked and answered! I thought there must have been a reason why people were'nt using extension cords in their cars :bowrofl: :nuts:

Yes. But any decent car audio amp will be running in excess of 25-30AMPS. :shock:

Not very safe in my opinion!! :doubt:

My point exactly!!!

I got 4 RCA's down LHS, and 4G power with 8G earth down RHS, with speaker down the middle.

Take your seats out, makes it heaps easier. :D

Flexible conduit is handy for extra insulation, and also if you cbf taking seatbelt bolt out.

Why do you have a 4ga power and a 8ga ground? Your ground wire should match or exceed your power wire. This probably wont hurt until the amp is at full powe, but if it is struggling to get the power out then it will lose performance.

You're not running the earth all the way back to the battery are you? It should go to the chassis, probably wont hurt but it is better to have the negative as short as possible.

An extension cord for an amp? Not the best idea. It could cause a fire or shorting if the wires heat up from too much current trying to be drawn. The amp will most likely strugle for power and distort with peaks in the music. You also may get distortion from having the wires so close together, probably not but you could.

On my first system I ever did, I just used some 20ga house wire it worked OK, when I did some more research and got more money I rewired it with 4ga and fused it properly and used the right connectors instead of home-made ones. It sounded like a whole new system, much more punchy and clear. It pays to buy the right gear and do it properly, it will look and probably sound better too.

Just my 2.2c (GST incl.)

Why do you have a 4ga power and a 8ga ground? Your ground wire should match or exceed your power wire. This probably wont hurt until the amp is at full powe, but if it is struggling to get the power out then it will lose performance.

You're not running the earth all the way back to the battery are you? It should go to the chassis, probably wont hurt but it is better to have the negative as short as possible.


Yeah, I thought the wires should be the same guage but after asking Q's on CAA Forums the story is this...

There is a difference in potential between the battery neg. terminal (ground) and the spot where your amps are grounded, because the car chassis is not a perfect conductor. This causes ground loops, noise and other undesirable stuff. :confused:

So, you run a wire from the battery neg. (8G is OK, according to installers) to a common earth point, like a chassis bolt, and ground everything there. Current still runs through the chassis, but the 8G ensures earths are at the same potential.

That's the theory, haven't hooked anything up yet so this spot behind the back seat may or may not work. I'm a bit suss about the spot welds. :shock:

Thats interesting. I knew all of the grounds should be to the same spot but I didnt think about the potential of different sized cables and the conductivity of the chassis. I still think that if there is 4ga going in there should be 4ga going out. The wire going from the grounding point should be 8ga or or larger to my way of thinking, the more direct flow the better. I cant see there being much of a gain if there are no problems with noise or grounding anyway, upgrading the ground of the battery and the alternator would probably be better. I like the idea of thier being a direct flow to the battery nagative aswell as the chassis connection, thats a good use for all that extra 8ga Ive got lying around!

Oh yeah, I forgot. You should also upgrade engine bay earths. :shock:

In the case of a TH, 4G from batt. to chassis bolt below the battery, the other one goes into the conduit down to the starter motor, but splits off to a gearbox bolt. :D